


Dig Up The Bones

by tempered_rose



Category: Football RPF, Real Person Fiction, Sports RPF
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Law Enforcement, Alternate Universe - Serial Killers, Alternative Universe - FBI, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Blood, Blood and Violence, Child Abuse, Crimes & Criminals, Criminal Masterminds, Everyone Is Gay, Forgive Me, Friendship, Heterosexuality, I'm seriously warning you there is gonna be some shit, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Implied Slash, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, Investigations, Kidnapping, Law Enforcement, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Multiple Pairings, Murder, Murder Mystery, Murderers, Plot Twists, Psychoanalysis, Psychological Torture, Rare Pairings, Sadism, Serial Killers, Sexual Violence, Tags May Change, Team, Team as Family, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Victim Blaming, Violence, pairings may change - Freeform, seriously, sorry for any mistakes in my research
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-30 16:04:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3942934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tempered_rose/pseuds/tempered_rose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A group of seven FBI profilers chase serial killers all around the country. They're witness to some terribly gruesome crimes and horrors that only few people ever get to hear about. They study behavior and human psychology to create a profile so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice and answer for their crimes. But how do you not lose yourself along the way?</p><p>A <i>Criminal Minds</i> AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue (Avengers Assemble)

**Author's Note:**

> So…Netflix is a wonderful thing. It allows me to binge on my favorite TV show, _Criminal Minds_ and I regret ~~every~~ nothing. If you're not familiar with the show, I encourage you to check it out if you have Netflix or read about it on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Minds), but the short version is essentially my summary. They have to create a profile of some twisted minds to catch the criminal on many different types of cases, and that's what this fic is about, a la footballers.
> 
> This is intended to be a long fic so please buckle in for a long ride. I will do my best to update since I have a good bit of free time as of late. I'm also doing it kind of like a season of CM so there will be an overall arc and then several smaller arcs in the middle with the various cases they have. So please be patient and bear with me as I work on this. I apologize in advance if in my research of things some errors are made. If you spot anything, please let me know and I'll do my best to correct it.
> 
> As always concrit is welcome and well received :) And please leave comments, they are my fic bunny candy and make me happy thus more fic happens ;) Now without further adieu... the prologue >:D
> 
> **For Eliza and El.**

**August 2000**

He knew he was being watched; the feeling of eyes never leaving his figure made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He wasn’t comfortable, so he took a quick scan of the room using only his peripheral vision. Typical coffee shop in New York City, at first glance, but he was better than that, so he looked a little harder.

For himself, he was an easy study and he didn’t waste much time on his own table, which was seated in the back corner, meaning he had clear view over everything else in the café. There was a newspaper in front of him and a cup of coffee, half-finished that he had been occasionally tasting but wasn’t really focused on.

There was a series of two-chaired tables all along the wall beside of him, and in front of the large glass windows at the front of the café were four-tops. Only a few of them were full, and they were mostly mothers with small infant children but there were a scattering of younger type college-looking kids with their laptops. There were also one or two old men sipping their own coffee and doing crosswords, just like he was. The staff of the place were busy cleaning up after the morning rush, and from the smells of the bakery, a fresh round of the café’s famous pumpkin bread was just about done. He might be tempted to purchase a piece before he left, but that was only if he hung around long enough for it to be served.

He was still being watched and he didn’t see by whom. That was concerning.

He shifted uncomfortably for a minute and glanced back to his paper, the bell tinkled over the front door as someone entered the shop. Habit had the young man looking up and a sigh escaped his lips before he could help himself. He watched the older man in a suit walk towards him with purpose and he almost considered getting up and leaving just then; he would have, if he had known he wasn’t going to be followed.

“Lahm.” The man said by way of greeting and Philipp sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“Sir.” Philipp replied and picked up the coffee and took a sip. He covered the grimace he felt inwardly because the liquid was cold. Turns out it had been sitting longer than he thought.

“I thought I would find you in the field office, not out in some…café in Brooklyn.” He said and Philipp shook his head.

“I like the pumpkin bread. You should try it before you leave.” Philipp replied.

“And you want me gone sooner rather than later.” The man smiled and Philipp wanted to sigh. He felt like a deer in the headlights of a fast-moving car but he couldn’t flee. This was his job on the line here, after all.

“I wouldn’t say—”

“Yes you would.” The man interrupted and Philipp looked levelly back at him, a little ashamed that he’d been caught out so quickly. But then again, it _was_ what the man did for a living…

The man opposite him sighed and then studied Philipp as they looked one another over. If he had been a younger agent, Philipp would have been nervous just sitting in this man’s presence. As it was, he couldn’t wait to be out of the man’s sight. He wasn’t intimated, just aggravated.

“Look, Lahm, I want you on my team. I think you could do a great service for us. You’re smart, observant, and you’re a great leader. You don’t take any bullshit and, trust me, that’s a great quality I want to have. You’re a professional and I know you’re ambitious. This would be a great stepping stone to further your career in the Bureau. I’ve asked you to think about it…what do you say?”

Philipp shook his head and lowered his eyes back to his paper and he felt his shoulders bowing under the pressure. He had been head hunted for the open position in the Behavioral Analysis Unit by the Unit’s very own section chief. How the man even came to know about him was a mystery in and of itself, but Philipp still wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“The pay increase and relocation program would set you up nicely. You’d have a comfortable life, and Virginia isn’t so bad. Quiet. Less hustle and bustle, and you know you want peace and quiet.” The section chief kept going, with that tempting smile of his and Philipp felt himself slipping more and more onto his hook. Then, he was baited at last when he added one last detail…

“Besides, isn’t your wife expecting a baby? Housing in Virginia is a lot cheaper than in the City, and you’ll need the room for a bouncing new baby…”

Philipp sighed. He just hoped they had pumpkin bread in Quantico.

* * *

**February 2003**

Benedikt had seen a lot of things in his long career, but this kid was an exception even to that rule. He stood out of the way in the back of the lecture theater and watched the lecturer down below. He was hidden in the shadow by the doorframe as he leaned against it and he just watched the rows and rows of pupils listening to their lesson being taught. A few of them were taking notes, one or two were nodding off, but most of them were as enraptured as Benedikt was by the discussion of psychology that the lecturer was giving.

Benedikt watched the lecturer and, out of habit, did a profile on the speaker. Sometimes he found himself doing it out of habit and couldn’t stop himself before he already could tell so much about a person. It made meeting new people difficult, and dating was impossible. It wasn’t his fault though; he just wished sometimes he wasn’t as observant as he was. It would be nice to actually go on a date with someone and not be able to tell that they had just left their mom’s basement to come out on the date, or whether or not they had a dog, if they had showered recently, or brushed their teeth.

If it wasn’t something like that initial observation, then it would be a feeling he’d have when the appetizers were being served and a little comment that they would make would go askew and he could see the typical traits of a sociopath or someone who may have sub-psychotic rage issues that could manifest into psychopathy one day.

Not that everyone had such tendencies, but Benedikt seemed to find them easier than others did. Perhaps it was his curse to bear, to know when someone malevolent was nearby and they were just simmering under the surface. He was observant, yes, but he was plagued with never really having any close relationships because of it. His closest relationships weren’t even what he would consider to be friendships; they were just a close working relationship with colleagues because at least they could understand the horrors of his job and the bad that lurked in people. They could feel it, and he didn’t have to hide that part of his life from them the way he might have to on a first date or with one of his family members, not that he spoke to them much anymore anyway.

The speaker was wrapping up their presentation and Benedikt ducked quietly out into the hallway and pulled out his phone to call his boss, though he technically had more experience in the Unit than Philipp did. He didn’t mind being subordinate to Agent Lahm; the man was smart, helpful, and a workaholic despite having a three year old at home.

“Lahm.” He answered shortly and Benedikt was used to this coarse greeting and was already speaking in the brief pause that came after Philipp had spoken.

“The kid is worth his reputation. Should I bring him in?” Benedikt asked and watched as some of the students began to come filing out of the lecture hall.

“Yes. Don’t tell him why yet, just ask him to come in.”

“See you soon.” Benedikt hung up and reentered the theater and started down the steps towards the stage at the front of the theater. The two kids that had been nodding off during the lecture were getting woken up by their friends and were gathering their things along with a few stragglers.

Benedikt waited for them to be gone before he cleared his throat and watched the young man that had been giving the presentation on psychology. The young teacher didn’t even bother to look at him.

“Your badge is in your left pocket and I assume you’re with the FBI?”

“That’s correct.” Benedikt kept the smile from coming onto his face. “I’d like you to come down to our office in Quantico, we’d like to speak to you.”

The brunette looked up and his youthful appearance still amazed Benedikt. How could someone so _young_ be so talented? Sure he was smart, he would have to be to have accomplished so much at his age, but brains weren’t the only thing that the BAU needed.

“I haven’t done anything.”

“I didn’t say you had.”

Benedikt watched the younger man watch himself and let his profiler brain take over. He didn’t even need the brief he’d been given about the man to know the little things about him. The young man was young, early twenties, and appeared clean and well groomed. He was a bit skinnier than he should be for someone of his size, perhaps he got so involved in his work that he forgot to eat at times? No wedding ring, no sign of any pet hair. He had the appearance of someone who wore clothes because they were practical, not because he was interested in fashion. He had an ink stain on his sleeve from where it had drug in some ink while he’d been writing on something earlier. _Detail-driven, focused, almost obsessive at times. Overcompensates to prove himself._

“Should we go then? I have a lesson to prepare for tomorrow and I don’t like to be late.”

Benedikt smiled and stepped back to let the young teacher walk out first. He put his satchel over his shoulder and started to walk out, though he didn’t lead the way. He walked on purpose side-by-Benedikt’s-side and when the FBI agent would change his gait, so would the younger man. Benedikt found it interesting, found him interesting. 

“Why does the FBI want to speak to me Agent Höwedes?” He asked, pressing the button for the elevator and Benedikt raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t given the young man his name.

“You tell me, Julian.” Benedikt looked calmly back at young Julian Draxler and watched the boy to see what he would say. They both stepped into the elevator when it came and Julian hit the button for the lobby before he spoke.

“I think it’s to offer me a job.” He said and then glanced, almost sheepishly, at the agent. “I didn’t use any special reasoning to figure that out. The section chief, Jürgen Klopp, called and told me they’d be sending someone and were interested in me.”

Benedikt shook his head, smile playing on his lips as he nodded. “That’s correct. How did you know my name?”

Julian just smiled and walked out of the elevator, never bothering to answer the question. Benedikt decided he liked the kid at once and promised himself to keep an eye on this one. There was no doubt in his mind that he’d be joining the team. At last, someone who was _interesting_. Then again, someone who was already a university professor at the ripe age of twenty-two had to be interesting.

* * *

**September 2004**

No one appreciated him and that was the real tragedy of it all. He was a maestro in the Internet, truly a genius of epic proportion, an orchestrator of brilliant technology that no one else could possibly understand—except, perhaps, another hacker, but that was beside the point. He could do more damage in his living room in his underwear eating a bowl of Cheerios than an army could do on a battlefield in one day. He could make people serious cash all if he did a few taps of keys on his keyboard and maybe a mouse click if he had to.

It was during one such morning that he had his routine rudely interrupted. He was watching a very important Scooby Doo marathon while eating Fruit Loops in his Superman boxers and was casually surfing the internet for the newest gadget to speed up his download speeds when there came a knock on the door.

Marco sighed because it was at a very crucial moment in the plot of catching the bad guy in Scooby Doo when it came again, only this time someone spoke and boy, did they sound sexy…

“Marco Reus, FBI, open the door.”

_Uh oh._

Marco quickly hit a few keys to wipe his system on his laptop and had only just managed to do that when the door got flung open and three of the burliest men in Kevlar Marco had ever seen entered his apartment, along with three Feds in suits. He sighed dramatically and flopped onto his sofa, Fruit Loops falling to the floor and making a mess of colorful spilt milk.

“I hope you’re going to pay me back for that door. They’re not cheap you know, and I really want my security deposit back.” Marco looked at the group and considered them all, they hadn’t spoken yet and he wondered which one the sexy voice belonged to.

There was a shorter one with some serious eyebrow problems that needed fixing with a tweezer and a good wax at the very least and he appeared to be in charge. Another blond man was looking around Marco’s apartment and it seemed like he was trying to take everything in, things about Marco’s personality no doubt. Isn’t that what Feds did after all? But there was a third man that was taller than both the other two and Marco nicknamed him instantly. Muscles. _Oh please let Muscles be Mister Sexy…I could have fun with him…_

“Marco Reus you’re under arrest for Internet fraud, illegal tampering, and intent to cause harm by hacking into government systems. You have the right to remain silent…” As the rest of Marco’s Miranda rights were read to him by Eyebrows, Marco winked at Muscles and felt himself hauled up by one of the Kevlar crew.

“Can I at least put some clothes on, or did you wanna frisk me first?” Marco asked the tall brunette man who rolled his eyes and Marco felt himself being handcuffed while someone else, another Kevlar man, threw some jeans at him.

Marco thought he would still get his chance with Muscles, just after he spent a few years in a federal prison…

* * *

**April 2009**

The sound of the old propeller plane carried over the ground, just like the breeze stirred the dust all around the Arizona airfield. The sun was as unforgiving in its brightness as it was in its heat. The tall man covered his eyes as he looked over the empty expanse of desert and sand that covered the thousands of square miles of desert that lay between here and Phoenix.

“Thanks for coming Agent Mertesacker, could really use your expertise on this one.”

Per shook Bastian Schweinsteiger’s hand and nodded as they moved away from the loud engines of the airplane.

“Pretty remote, even for the middle of nowhere.” Per said as he adjusted his sunglasses to shade his eyes from the bright sun. The desert dust was getting stirred up as the plane that just dropped Per off began to take off again.

“Flagstaff is about one hundred and twenty miles southwest of here. The dump site is a few miles up the road. The rest of the team is there, I’ll drive you.” The blond man smiled friendly and Per nodded once as they neared the black SUV that would take them to the scene of a mass grave that had been stumbled on by…

“Who found the women?” Per asked, putting on his seatbelt and grateful for the blast of air-conditioning that hit him once Bastian turned the car on.

“Truck driver got a flat tire and was getting out to change it when he noticed the footprints leading off the road. The scene is only about fifty yards from the highway.”

“Awfully close to a main road to dump a body, never mind several.”

Bastian left the small airfield and got onto the highway.

“You see what it looks like out here. Traffic is sparse to say the least. The unsub, unknown subject, would have had a lot of time and isolation to carry them away from a vehicle and place her with the others.”

Per nodded and lapsed into quiet before he asked, “Why did Agent Lahm request me out on this assignment?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask him that. I’m just only the liaison between the local law enforcement and the Bureau. Any motivations Agent Lahm has are his own. But I’m sure if you’re here it’s because he thinks you’re going to be helpful in helping us with this case…”

Per nodded and saw the crime scene coming from a mile away. The desert was flat here, though up ahead a hill crested and would make east-bound traffic temporarily lose sight of the scene, but they were approaching from the east not the west and they could see the yellow tape and police vehicles, as well as several other black SUVs.

Per put his sunglasses back on and prepared himself for another wave of heat. He’d been in many different countries, but there was always something about the American Southwest that just called to him and he had been operating out of the Tucson field office for several years now.

He got out of the car and went to find the others with Bastian to see what could be done about the serial killer operating out of the Navajo reservation to the north.

* * *

**Present Day**

Philipp looked out of the window into the bullpen from the Section Chief’s office. Jürgen had a much nicer office than his own, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t one to worry about the size of another person’s office, or anything else for that matter. He sipped the black coffee he had in his hand and watched the others standing around Julian’s desk and were teasing him for something, probably the new book he had read in under ten minutes.

Philipp’s attention was brought back to his current surroundings when Jürgen cleared his throat.

“If you really aren’t going to listen to what I’m saying, then perhaps I should send your liaison a memo, perhaps he can get it to your attention…”

“I’m sorry, sir. What is it?” Lahm turned around and gave Klopp all of his attention now, instead of displacing it onto his team.

“I said how is everyone doing? The last case you were on seemed more stressful than most…”

“I think they are fine. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if a few of them requested vacation time for a day or two now.” Philipp replied simply and Jürgen watched him from where he sat at his desk.

“I think you should all take a half-week off. Yes, your caseload is full right now, but I need you all rested and refreshed, not wound up and tense.”

Philipp raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but free vacation time? Miracles didn’t happen every day…

“I’ll extend the offer to my team.” Philipp said and Jürgen nodded.

“See that you do. And you should take a few days as well.”

Philipp already knew that if he had a few days, he would spend them with his son, but he would also catch up on some much-needed paperwork also.

“Have a good evening, agent.” Jürgen said and Philipp started out of the office after returning the sentiment to the boss.

He walked along the corridor back to his own office and saw a gift basket on the desk. His eyebrow rose and he walked over to it and picked up the note addressed to him first and opened it. It was from Klopp.

‘ _Take a damn break. See you next Monday._ ’

Philipp looked into the basket and saw several loaves of pumpkin bread made from a bakery in New York City. He smiled a little and picked up the basket along with a file folder. Perhaps a week’s vacation wasn’t a bad idea after all…


	2. Restitution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologize for any squicks you may have about this chapter; I tried to warn you!!! Also, I made up some names of victims/parents/etc. so yes, there are a few original characters in this one. I didn't want to kill any IRL people ~~yet~~. *ahem* :)))
> 
> Thank you to those who read/commented on the last chapter. I love you all ♥

“ _It's not so important who starts the game, but who finishes it._ ” - John Wooden

* * *

There was a soft rustle of the grain as it swayed with the wind in the dying sun’s light that painted everything a nice glowing orange. The cicadas were out in full force and the crickets joined them in their nightly symphony as the summer’s night began. It would have been a peaceful sight, in the middle of a wheat field in southern Illinois, all quiet and with only the sounds of nature to distract you. Blissful, but that wasn’t the case tonight.

Five cars had ruined the crop in a little bit of area near the trail that the tractor used to get in and out of the field, as they’d parked in a semi-circle. Footpaths had been made from all the traffic of having walked back and forth between the tractor treads and where the center of their focus was. The farmer who owned the field wouldn’t be happy about it, but that was the least of his worries since three of those cars belonged to the County Sheriff’s department and the other two belonged to the FBI.

Supervisory Special Agent Philipp Lahm and SSA Benedikt Höwedes looked over the body of a woman lying uncovered in the middle of the field. Agents Mertesacker and Lewandowski were looking in the surrounding area for any sign of clues that the local sheriff deputies hadn’t already found or compromised.

“Who owns this field, Sheriff?” Philipp asked, looking up to the Sheriff.

“Local farmer, his name is Rob Green. He’s the one that found the body when he was coming back to the farmhouse from being out here all day,” Sheriff Lehmann said with his hands on his hips. His deputy, Torsten Frings, had his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the Federal agents scour the crime scene.

“And he didn’t see anything when he was out here?” Benedikt asked, looking up to the sheriff, who shook his head.

“Not a thing. He was in the lower part of the field and only was coming back this way to put the tractor in the barn over there,” the sheriff pointed to a building about a half-mile away over open ground.

“What can you tell us about the victim?” Benedikt asked, looking over the positioning of the body without touching her.

“Her name is Marina Lombard. She’s a freshman at the community college in Pulaski County.” Jens Lehmann, the sheriff of Alexander County said as he looked at the blond agent.

“Did you know her?”

“Not personally, but I’ve seen her. Her dad works in town for the electrical company and I’ve had to pick him up before on a few drunk and disorderly charges but nothing really violent.”

Benedikt raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘nothing really violent’?”

Jens shrugged. “He’s been loud and smashed some things, tried doing yard work in his backyard in the middle of the night, just general disturbances like that. Only time he ever got physical was when he was being cuffed and just didn’t want to go. He might take a swing, but it never made contact. He’d be too damn drunk to get that far. I wouldn’t call him harmless, but he’s not the worst drunk in town either.”

Philipp shook his head. “I see. Has he been notified yet?”

“Not yet. We were waiting for you guys.” Jens said and looked over when one of the deputies called his name. “I suspect you’ll get to see his charming alter ego later tonight after we tell him, though.”

“We’re going to need to speak to him regardless.” Philipp said and Jens nodded, looking back to the federal agent. “He needs to be notified at the very least.

“That’s fine. I’ll have one of the boys take you over there when you’re ready. Excuse me just a second.” Jens started towards his deputies.

Philipp nodded as Benedikt rose up and looked around the field. The one helpful thing was that most of southern Illinois was flat, so it was easy to see there was no where to hide…except in the tall crop of ready-to-harvest wheat. The sheriff was called away by another deputy and both he and Frings went to speak to him while Benedikt moved closer to Philipp and lowered his voice to have a quiet word with the leader of their team.

“What do you think so far?” Philipp asked before Benedikt could speak. Benedikt simply shook his head as he glanced down at the victim before looking back up.

“The unsub wouldn’t have been able to hide out here if he’d been seen, so he took a huge risk, suggesting he is disorganized. We need to ask the farmer if he saw anybody. I find it hard to believe _no_ one saw anything, even if we’re in the middle of nowhere.” Benedikt replied just as Per and Robert moved over after finishing their sweep of the rest of the scene.

“Why would he dump her here? There isn’t any cover for him to hide and it was a huge risk to leave her here in the middle of the day.” Robert asked, glancing over at the group of the sheriff and his deputies.

“She wasn’t posed, just left abandoned on the ground.” Per added. “He doesn’t feel remorse.”

Philipp nodded, his face grim as he looked over the scene. After a few moments, he spoke.

“I think we are done here for now. We can go back to the station. First, we need to determine how long she’s been out here. If it was the middle of the day, then we may need to look into that, but if she’s been out here overnight, then that could mean something else. Per, go ahead and go with the coroner to get the autopsy when it’s done.”

Per nodded and raised his hand to have the medical examiner come over to get the girl from the field. Robert and the others moved out of his way and watched as the gurney was brought over along with a body bag.

“Come on, let’s go.” Benedikt added as he started with the others to leave the semi-circle that they’d been in. The group of agents started back to their SUVs.

“I’ll have Bastian go with me to speak to the father. Benedikt, you and Robert see if you can’t find anything in the girl’s personal affects in her room. I’ll have Julian work on a geographic profile based on the dump sites of the other victims.” Philipp said and got into the driver’s seat of one of the vehicles.

The others settled back into their seats as they left the crime scene, taking care not to mess up the farmer’s field anymore than necessary. One of the sheriff’s deputies stayed behind but the other police car followed them back towards town.

* * *

Per studied the face of their victim, of Marina, as the medical examiner finished up with the autopsy. A sheet covered the rest of her body and Per always thought that was fitting, to let the victims have some of their dignity in the end. He looked past the injuries to her face to study her.

She had been a lovely girl, just like the others, in that girl-next-door kind of way. She hadn’t been exceptionally skinny or curvy; Per thought his mother would have called her ‘bean pole’ simply because of her lack of curves. Marina had dark blond hair and freckles lining her cheeks. The unsub had punched her in the face, the black eye she had showed that, and she had a few scratches and cuts along her cheeks.

Per knew the rest of the story from the profile of the other cases they’d had. Marina was the fourth victim and the story was all the same. The facts were simple.

Their unsub would find his victim and stalk them for several days before he would pick them up. Two of the girls had been walking home after their evening classes, one had been leaving work, and Per wasn’t sure about Marina yet, but he suspected it was something similar. The unsub would abduct them, take them back to an unknown location where he would keep them for five days and sexually assault them, torture them, and then dump them on the fifth day.

The medical examiner came back over to the table and looked at the federal agent.

“I’ll try and be quick so you can get back to the sheriff’s office. It’s just like the others I’m afraid. Nothing really different.” The examiner began his report and Per listened, and looked when the man showed the ligature marks on her wrists and ankles.

“And nothing was different compared to the other girls?” Per asked when the coroner was done.

“Well, he disposed of her body in the morning hours. Some grass was sticking to her back the way it would if dew had been present when she’d been placed there. I place her time of death between fourteen and sixteen hours before she was found. I suspect it was between eleven and one in the morning last night.”

Per nodded and looked back to Marina’s face before focusing back on the coroner. “Cause of death the same?”

“Stab wound to the heart, after a series of other cuts along her chest, yes.”

Per nodded and straightened up. “Well, I’ll be taking the report with me. Thank you, doctor.”

The coroner nodded and went over to print out the report so that Per could take it with him. The federal agent took one last look at Marina and sighed before he shook his head and promised silently that they would find whoever did this. He took the report from the medical examiner, thanked him, and started out the door to head back to the sheriff’s office.

* * *

It was never, ever an easy thing to tell someone that their loved one was dead. It was even worse when you had to say that they were the victim of a serial killer. And it was even more horrible when you knew that you that there was the possibility that you were going to have to tell a father that his precious little girl had been raped by the monster who had killed her.

Bastian liked to consider himself an empathetic person, someone who could help people through a rough time. That didn’t mean he didn’t hate having to give condolences to a grieving family. Fortunately, this time, the sheriff is the one that gave the notification and John Lombard took it the way Bastian had thought he would, upset crying and denial.

“Mister Lombard? My name is Philipp Lahm and this is my partner, Bastian Schweinsteiger and we’re with the FBI. We’d like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind?” Philipp said after a few moments when he had calmed down enough to realize that the sheriff wasn’t alone and had two others with him.

“If now isn’t, we can come back?” Bastian added softly and John shook his head, sniffling as he did so.

“No, it’s fine. I want to know what happened.” John said as he moved over to take a photograph frame from the wall of his daughter. He stared at her face as he spoke, voice distant. “What do you want to know?”

Philipp’s constant grim expression didn’t change as Bastian’s expression softened slightly as he took control of the interview. His tone and demeanor relaxed into empathy as he studied Marina’s father for any signs of acting or fake emotion.

“Did Marina have anyone that would want to hurt her in her life? Anyone she knows that would want to do this to her?”

John shook his head and looked up. “No. Not that I know of. She kept to herself mostly, that I know of. She was sweet.” John started to break up into tears again and both agents and sheriff gave him a few minutes to collect himself. After a while, he calmed down again.

“Did she have any friends that she would’ve spoken to, confided in?” Philipp asked delicately.

John nodded. “Yeah, there’s a couple girls she would mention sometimes.”

“We’ll need their names, and anyone else you can think of that Marina would have interacted with on a consistent basis.” Bastian added and saw John nod. He could see the shift from grief to purpose as he tried to think of some names while Bastian jotted them down.

Philipp and Bastian shared a look as something was confirmed that they already knew. John Lombard’s grief was genuine. He wasn’t their murderer.

* * *

Robert had spent the night in some pretty shitty hotels in his life, but this one was pushing it for lack of entertainment options. Not to say there was anything particularly bad about the Quality Inn, but it definitely was lacking in quality. He had to share a room with Julian, but thankfully the genius was otherwise engaged in Benedikt and Per’s room doing God only knew, leaving Robert to lay on his bed and listen to some mindless movie that involved a heist of a casino.

He hated movies like this because policemen in films didn’t act like real policemen and the motives of the criminals were often far more involved than what actually happened. As a profiler, he’d handled several serial bank robbery cases and the motivations behind those weren’t so that they could pay for a relative’s cancer treatments like the film would suggest; they were so that someone could strike it rich without actually working for it.

Robert irritated himself so much thinking about the mistakes that the film was making, so he turned it off and sighed. There wasn’t even that great of a cell signal here, he thought as he checked his phone. Still, it was enough, and he placed a call to one of his favorite people on the planet. After half a ring, a voice came across the line.

“God of all things knowledge and sexiness, speak and be recognized, caller.”

“Talk dirty to me.” Robert added, already smiling from that voice. _His_ voice.

“Promises, promises, amore mio. What do you need?” Marco added and Robert could hear the faint _whirring_ sound of the fans of the many computers surrounding Marco in his little office in Quantico.

“I _need_ a relief of boredom out here. Do you know there’s only about two thousand people in this town?”

“Should make narrowing down a killer easier for you…”

“You would think. Julian says there’s less than eight thousand in the county, so it shouldn’t be that hard, right?” Robert sighed and rolled over on the bed. He was tired of looking at the ceiling.

“I can pull background checks for some of the residents. See who has a criminal record for a serious crime, or a series of them, if you want?” Marco sounded hopeful and Robert knew that he was trying to be helpful.

“Do that, and run them for white males in their twenties and thirties. Based on what we have so far, try and narrow that scope to only sex offenders and murderers. Maybe we’ll get luck somewhere in there.”

“Sounds like a deal to me. I would say bring me back something fun, Mister kinky but I don’t think you’ll be able to find something in all of Alexander County Illinois that would fit that description.”

“I could always bring you back a cob of corn and you could go f—”

“Play nice, Satan Bob, or I’ll have someone else spank me later. Marco out.”

Robert smiled a little to himself as the phone beeped indicated the call was over. He sat up and sighed, running a hand through his hair. A shower and then possibly trying to convince the others to go out to a bar later, he decided as he pushed himself up to go do just that.

And if he touched himself in the shower while thinking about Marco Reus’ sexy voice, well, that would just be an added bonus…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't figured it out yet and watch the show…
> 
> Lahmy - Hotch; Benedikt - Gideon; Julian - Reid; Lewy - Morgan; Marco - Garcia; Per - Prentiss; and Klopp - Strauss.


End file.
